Garth Brooks Asks Industry Not To Make Him CMA Entertainer Of The Year Again

Brooks (Photo: Paul Smith/Featureflash/Shutterstock.com)

In an online press conference held this morning (7/29) Country superstar GARTH BROOKS announced that he was permanently taking himself out of the running for COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION (CMA) Entertainer of the Year. The move comes after having won the honor seven times, most recently in 2019.

BROOKS said he first approached the CMA about creating an “Entertainer of the Year emeritus” position. But when the group came back with word that it couldn’t control who its members nominate, BROOKS took his request directly to the industry, saying, “With all the gratefulness and love in the world we humbly ask” not to be considered in the second round of voting, which opens on FRIDAY, JULY 31st. “We are going to pull ourselves out,” he said, adding, “It’s time for somebody else to hold that award [and] know what that Entertainer of the Year feels like." BROOKS could still appear on the second round ballot, since voting in the initial nomination round is already complete.

Following the press conference, the CMA released a statement confirming that, “The long-standing CMA Awards rules do not allow individuals to remove themselves from the balloting process at any point … If voters have nominated GARTH BROOKS in the first round, his name will appear on the second ballot. It will then be up to voters in this second round to select their top finalists.”

The move came partly as a result of some negative social media reaction to his victory last year, blowback BROOKS said “wasn’t fun.” Fans of CARRIE UNDERWOOD and ERIC CHURCH were particularly critical of his win. BROOKS clarified that he would still be more than happy to be nominated in other CMA Awards categories.

BROOKS teased TODAY’s announcement during his “Inside Studio G” FACEBOOK show on MONDAY (7/27), saying it would be somewhat “intimate” and that the subject would reflect when “personal lines meets career lines.”

During the press conference, BROOKS also revealed that his recent quarantine with wife TRISHA YEARWOOD came after his youngest daughter, singer ALLIE COLLEEN, tested positive for COVID-19. She has since recovered.

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